We’re winning the war on coal as more and more coal-fired electrical generating plants close or switch to natural gas. At last count, since President Trump took office, a coal-fired electrical generating plant has closed roughly every 15 days. Of course, the President is very coal friendly, but basic economics have prevailed in spite of political pressure, and with plentiful, low cost natural gas and renewable energy flooding the market, even more plants will close during the next few years. As liquefied American natural gas, carried in huge tankers, penetrates more European and Asian markets, coal-fired plants will be closing all around the world. Coal is slowly becoming the fuel of the past, and as the coal mines close, the net amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere will drop precipitously. It won’t completely solve our global warming problem, but it will make a dent in it.
The death of coal-fired plants is American capitalism at its best, when a switch to a cleaner fuel is also a switch to a less expensive fuel. Everyone is happy except the coal miners, and since there are only 55,000 miners remaining, the desire to make money trumps political correctness not for environmental reasons, but switching from coal will bring in more money and make fewer enemies. Money drives the wagon in the good old USA, and our President can love coal, but money talks and it says “Shut that damn coal-fired plant down. We can make a lot more money buying that cheap natural gas, and we’ll look like the good guys.”
However, the situation with plastic is a lot tougher to handle, because we use plastic in almost everything we do, and economically we don’t have the financial reasons to switch. However, there are plenty of other reasons to switch from plastic one-use bottles and other one-use items such as plastic sacks, and it boils down to the basic composition of plastic. Plastic is non-biodegradable, and that means it will be with us for centuries. But the problem is not just the use of plastic, it is the extensive use since it was invented until today plastic is connected to almost every part of our lives. Since so much of the plastic manufactured goes into the one-use category, and since the plastic in these items is relatively an inexpensive part of the packaging, the cost is built in to the product, and the difference between re-useable products and one use is minimal. There is really very little financial incentive to switch to reusable containers or to use biodegradable substitutes.
There are a huge number of items made of plastic that we use on a daily basis, and as we continue to use and throw away these same items day after day, we become part of the problem, because we are a throwaway society. That’s right and the mark of a throwaway society if framed in the use one use items of any kind. Of course, throwing away one use items such a paper bags, newspapers, and other items not made of plastic are certainly not an environmentally positive thing to do, but they will degrade and disappear in a few years. However, plastic builds up in the environment and becomes a disposal problem because it continues to grow year after year, and the biggest reason is the one use items.
The U. N. has declared a War on Plastic and various other originations, cities, and countries have joined with the overall goal to reduce the use of plastic. The reasons why the use of plastic needs to be reduced or eliminated for some products is evident. As the world’s population increases the use of plastic become an even greater problem daily. According to published reports a garbage load of trash is dumped into the oceans every minute, and a big percentage of it is plastic.
An unbelievable 60 percent of all products use some plastic. For example, even some milk cartons are lined with plastic. When plastic goes into a landfill the toxins leach out, and since nearly all landfills leak, the toxics eventually end up polluting nearby water supplies. If the landfill trash containing plastic is burned toxic chemicals are released into the air, and breathing that air is unhealthy to say the least. Of course, in the ocean, many animals’ mistake plastic sacks and other pieces of plastic as food, which they ingest, and since plastic won’t digest in any animal, thousands of marine animals die each years from ingesting plastic. The Mediterranean Sea is the most plastic polluted large body of water on earth, and each year, on beaches from Greece to France, there are scenes of dying beached whales and other marine creatures. When an autopsy is done they find the animal stomachs are filled with plastic, blocking all digestion and these sea creatures actually starve to death.
Of course, the cleanup in the environment of discarded plastic items such as water bottles, plastic straws, and other items costs everyone billions of dollar each year since Federal, State and local money is used to clean up the litter in our cities and along our roads that are heavily loaded with plastic. Unless all that plastic is picked up it will be there for hundreds of years.
Of course, there are many things we can do, and one of the keys to reducing plastic is to shop friendly. Bring your own reusable bag and turn down those plastic bags, and stop buying one use items made of plastic.
However, the restrictions on the use of plastic are beginning to occur. States, cities, and other municipalities are passing laws forbidding the use of plastic straws and other one use items. Starbucks has a pilot program in London to reward customers who buy their coffee in a reusable cup. It’s cheaper than a throw away one use cup, and Starbucks has placed containers around the stores area where the reusable cups can be dropped off, and be recycled, so get ready to use a second hand cup when you buy a Starbucks, because it will happen along a host of other restrictions that will reduced the use of plastic.
Well, the bottom line is always money, and most of the new restrictions don’t actually do away with things like plastic bags, but they hit you with a penalty, which is a code word for extra money. Some states have already placed an extra charge to use plastic bags, and that will ultimately be the way to cut down on the one use items even here in Arkansas. Someday we will catch up to the national trend to do away with one use items, and I know you are wondering how. Well, if Walmart charged you $1.00 to use a plastic bag, wouldn’t you carry your reusable bag to the store? Of course you would, and it’s coming. Some cities primarily on the west coast have already passed legislation to restrict the use of one-use eating utensils and others are following suite. In five years plastic straws will be gone as well as most one use sacks, eating utensils, and those will soon be followed by Styrofoam.
Richard Mason is a registered professional geologist, downtown developer, former chairman of the Department of Environmental Quality Board of Commissioners, past president of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, and syndicated columnist. Email richard@ gibraltarenergy.com.